SC seeks Rahul explanation on ‘chowkidar chor hai’ comment

The Supreme Court yesterday observed that the “chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is a thief) comment made by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the context of Rafale fighter jet issue had been “incorrectly attributed” to it and demanded an explanation from him by April 22.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna posted the matter for hearing on April 23.

“We make it clear that this court had no occasion to record any view or finding or make any observation as allegedly attributed to the court by the respondent (Gandhi) inasmuch as what was decided by this court was a purely legal question of admissibility of certain documents to which objections were raised by the learned attorney general,” Gogoi said in the order.

“Having clarified the matter, we deem it proper to ask the respondent for his explanation which will be laid before us on or before 22.04.2019.

“We further observe that no views, observations or findings should be attributed to the court in political address to the media and in public speeches, unless such views, observations or findings are recorded by the court,” the judges said.

The Supreme Court’s directive came on a contempt plea filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Meenakshi Lekhi against Gandhi, who had said over a week back that the top court had “accepted” that there was some form of corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal and that “chowkidar chor hai”, a veiled reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Gandhi had made the comments after the court agreed to hear afresh a case related to the Rafale deal, rejecting the government’s contention that the secret documents concerning the agreement had been stolen and published in some newspapers without authorisation.

The court yesterday clarified that its decision on April 10 to

hear the points raised over the documents was solely on a legal question regarding admissibility of certain documents as evidence, which was objected to by the attorney general.

It clarified that its recent order “had no occasion” which might have indicated to Gandhi to make any such comments.

On April 10, the Supreme Court had said the petitions filed by former ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha, along with activist and lawyer Prashant Bhushan, seeking review of its December 14 judgment in the Rafale matter, would be heard on merits and that it would look into the documents published.

After Gandhi’s comments, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had attacked him and said he was on the “verge” of contempt of court by claiming that the top court had said “chowkidar chor hai”.

The prime minister slammed the Congress after the Supreme Court observation, and said it was worrying that the opposition party had reached a level where it has to “depend on lies”.

Modi said Gandhi was raking up the Rafale issue in an attempt to “clear” the name of his late father Rajiv Gandhi in the Bofors scandal even when “the truth” about the Rafale is already in public.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party has asked the Election Commission (EC) to take “serious cognisance” of Gandhi’s comments.

Addressing a press conference here, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Gandhi of lying and said while the constitution gives every citizen the freedom to speak, it does not give freedom to “lie and abuse”.

“Please explain to the country why you lied and why you attributed that lie to the Supreme Court. When will Rahul Gandhi stop shameless showering of abuses on our leaders?” he said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also slammed Gandhi, saying that he had hit a “new low” as he “manufactured” a court order for his political propaganda.

He said that Indian democracy does not permit “dynasts” to “rewrite” court orders.